Recommendations for New tires for the Northeast pat of the US.

[hjsimpson]

Hey folks,

I'm looking to replacement tires, I'm located in RI and occasionally travel up to NH(8times during the ski season) and was looking to see some reccomendations.

I have been looking at the Nokians but do I really need that beefy of a tire and the added cost for the region i'm located in?

I purchased my used 04 XC70 last year with 64k and the tread on the scorpions were decent and got me through the winter. Should I stick with the Scorpions? One thing i was hoping to do was improve handling a bit so maybe a tire wih a stiffer sidewall?

thanks for your help folks!

[haute]

Perhaps this will help:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/index.jsp

Read through the surveys and comments.

[BLUEH20]

There are numerous threads on this subject and the Nokians come out right on the top in all categories.

You can get a lesser tire and you can get by---

I live and drive in the pacific northwest at the foot of the Cascade Mountains-not really unlike your area, including 4 ski resorts virtually in the back yard.

I made my choice--Nokians. And my wife noticed a change in performance and apperance--she told me they "looked rounder" and were much quiter. I went and took a look at them and they are rounder--the stiffer sidewalls do not flatten out like a P-metric radial.

[awise1961]

I live in NH. and have just outfitted my wife's 2005 XC70 with Goodyear Ultragrips for the Winter. The rest of the year the car has Yokohama TRZ's.

Al. Wise

[Ron N]

I have been using Nokians for the past 7 years. Have them on both XC70's. There are two Nokian retailers that I know of in New Hampshire. One is in Nashua (Maynard/Lesieur) and the other is in Concord (Salta Tire). Last year, while my 2007 was in for service at Lovering Volvo, I had them purchase the tires through Maynard. The total bill was approximately $800. This included all mounting, balancing, four wheel alignment and disposal of old tires. I checked the prices with Maynard prior to having Lovering purchase them - they were identical. Another reason I wanted to have the dealership install the tires was the tire pressure monitoring system. I was concerned about some young kid not knowing what he was doing and damaging the special valve stems. At least, if the dealer damaged it they would have stock to replace.

Your 2004 probably does not have the monitoring system, so you have the option of going directly to the tire retailer.

Regards
Ron

[hjsimpson]

Thanks for the comments! I'll need ot save a bit more for the Nokians!

[wiz]

I live in Boston. The thread currently above this is relevant to you, here's a couple posts from it where I say what I bought:

http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=106293&postcount=3

and how I like them:

http://www.volvoxc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=106306&postcount=5

The Nokians are great snow tires, but if you get ploughed regularly and your ski resorts have ploughed access roads you don't necessarily need the Nokians. We're going to get snow tomorrow/Sunday and I'm looking forward to seeing how my new tires handle the snow.